This and that

Cool, clear stream exploring
The subtle valley
The greenest green
Telling her secrets
As I listen intently
Happy on her banks
Her lucious curves
Go on forever
No beginning
No end

Adventures never cease

And before I can even finish writing about my last adventure to Asia, I took my first journey to South Ameica - Ecuador to be exact.

I spent two mostly wonderful weeks in the area in and around the beautiful colonial city of Cuenca. I arrived a few hours after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed over 700 people and injured close to 30,000. Lives changed forever in a few minutes. This fact definitely changed the tone of my experience and the time I spent there was covered in concern and sadness alongside of mind blowing scenery and beautiful, kind people.

Intense is the word that describes my experience. Intense beauty. Intense concern. Intense love and appreciation. I also got intensely sick one day of the trip. There were many smaller earthquakes and aftershocks almost daily which made for intense questions of my safety.

I felt the rumbling of the earth beneath me and realized that we are so not in charge here. As much as we like to think we are. Mother earth is sad and she is angry. She's had enough abuse.

The image of a giant carnival ride comes to mind. Someone throws on the brakes and the huge machine comes to a grinding, squealing halt. And then the engine master puts the whole thing in reverse. She very slowly and majestically starts in the opposite direction from whence she came.

More thoughts and stories to come....